The Hightstown Industrial Track is a rail line in New Jersey, owned and operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO). The line runs from Jamesburg, New Jersey to the current end of track at Cranbury, New Jersey. The line was built by the Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A) one of the first railroads in the country. It has been operated by C&A, the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, and finally, Conrail.
The line's history starts on December 17, 1832 with the opening of the Camden and Amboy Railroad between South Amboy and Bordentown. The railroad, which followed the same route as the Hightstown Industrial Track today, was built to convey passengers between New York and Philadelphia. However, passengers had to transfer to either stagecoaches or ferries at the ends of the line to reach the cities themselves. [1] On September 9, 1833, the line's steam locomotive, the John Bull, entered service, starting its run in South Amboy. On the return Journey, it derailed in Hightstown when it hit a hog. [2] [3] Also that fall, the line between Bordentown and Delanco was completed, bringing the southern terminus closer to Philadelphia. [4] Finally, on December 29, 1834, the line was completed to Camden. [5]
From then until 1839, operations continued unchanged, but on the first day of 1839, the company completed a line between New Brunswick and Trenton, which connected with the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company in New Brunswick. This allowed trains to go straight to Jersey City, greatly lessening the importance of the line through Hightstown and Cranbury. From then on, operations remained unchanged, save for the creation of the junction in Jamesburg with the Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad (now the Freehold Secondary).
Corporately, the Camden and Amboy and the New Jersey Railroad were officially merged on February 1, 1867. [6] On December 1, 1871, the Pennsylvania Railroad leased the properties of the two railroads (by then amalgamated into the United Canal & Railroad Companies of New Jersey), and split its properties into two divisions; the Amboy, which contained the original Camden and Amboy main line and the New York, which included the main line of the NJRR.
Under the Pennsylvania, the line was relegated to secondary status, owing to the parallel Northeast Corridor. However, north of Jamesburg, the line was electrified, so coal trains could run from Harrisburg straight through to the coal dumpers at South Amboy with electric power. South of Jamesburg, the line was never electrified. In the early 1960s, the line was severed between Hightstown and Windsor, to save money on taxes and to save on maintenance costs. For the first time since 1832, the Camden and Amboy main line was not a through route.
The northern part of the line is now the Hightstown Industrial Track. By that time, the northeastern railroad industry was in crisis, with trucks taking their toll on traffic, and the railroads saddled with unprofitable operations. And in 1968, the Pennsylvania merged with the New York Central, forming the Penn Central. In 1976, after eight disastrous years of operation, Conrail absorbed the PC, along with half a dozen other ailing northeastern railroads.
Conrail, which has operated the Hightstown Industrial Track since the death of Penn Central, has made relatively few changes to the line. Indeed, all they have done is abandoned it south of Cranbury in 1983, when traffic south of that point dried up. In 1999, during the split of Conrail between CSX and Norfolk Southern, the line was conveyed to Conrail Shared Assets Operations, who operates it to this day. The line is served by Conrail Local Freight WPSA-31 (Wayfreight Philadelphia division SAyreville - 31) on Mondays and Wednesdays. [7] [8] Customers include:
U.S. Route 130 is a U.S. Highway that is a spur route of US 30, located completely within the state of New Jersey. It is signed with north and south cardinal directions, following a general northeast–southwest diagonal path, with north corresponding to the general eastward direction and vice versa. The route runs 83.46 mi (134.32 km) from Interstate 295 (I-295) and US 40 at Deepwater in Pennsville Township, Salem County, where the road continues south as Route 49, north to US 1 in North Brunswick Township, Middlesex County, where Route 171 continues north into New Brunswick. The route briefly runs concurrent with US 30 near Camden, about one-third of the way to New Brunswick. The road runs within a close distance of I-295 south of Bordentown and a few miles from the New Jersey Turnpike for its entire length, serving as a major four- to six-lane divided local road for most of its length. US 130 passes through many towns including Penns Grove, Bridgeport, Westville, Camden, Pennsauken, Burlington, Bordentown, Hightstown, and North Brunswick.
The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad commuter trains between Trenton and New York, and is NJ Transit's busiest commuter rail service. After arrival at New York Penn Station, some trains load passengers and return to New Jersey, while others continue east to Sunnyside Yard for storage. Most servicing is done at the Morrisville Yard, at the west end of the line.
Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail, an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Areas, where it serves as a contract local carrier and switching company for its owners, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway. When most of the former Conrail's track was split between these two railroads, the three shared assets areas were kept separate to avoid giving one railroad an advantage in those areas. The company operates using its own employees and infrastructure but owns no equipment outside MOW equipment.
The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company (UNJ&CC) was a United States-based railroad company established in 1872. It was formed by the consolidation of three existing companies: the Camden and Amboy Railroad, Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, and New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company. The Camden and Amboy and New Jersey Rail Road were among the earliest North American railroads. The Pennsylvania Railroad leased the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Company in 1872.
The Junction Railroad was a railroad created in 1860 to connect lines west of downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and allow north-south traffic through the metropolitan area for the first time. The railroad consisted of 3.56 miles of double track and 5.3 miles of sidings. It owned no locomotives or rolling stock. The line connected the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road line at the west end of the Columbia Bridge over the Schuylkill River, crossed the Pennsylvania Railroad line, ran parallel to Market Street, and turned south to connect with the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad at Gray's Ferry.
The National Railway or National Air Line Railroad was a planned air-line railroad between New York City and Washington, D.C. in the United States around 1870. Part of it was eventually built from New York City to Philadelphia by the Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad and the Delaware River Branch of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, leased by the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, in 1879, and becoming its New York Branch. The line was intended to provide an alternate to the various monopolies that existed along the route, specifically the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Companies and their Camden and Amboy Railroad, and as such had a long struggle to be built.
The Bordentown Secondary was originally a freight railroad line in New Jersey, running from Pavonia Yard in Camden to Trenton. Today, a large portion of the line from Bordentown to Camden is used for New Jersey Transit's River Line light rail service. Conrail Shared Assets Operations continues to operate freight trains on the line, but these operations are restricted to overnight hours.
Roebling station is a station on the River Line light rail system, located in Roebling, New Jersey. The station opened on March 15, 2004 together with the line. A previous station, operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, was located at the site from around 1907 until the 1950s. The station consists of one side platform serving the single-track line; an adjacent parking lot originally intended to support nearby developments is used by local commuters.
Woodbridge is a commuter railroad station in Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. Located on NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast Line, it is one of three active railroad stations in the eponymous township, including Avenel to the north on the same line and Metropark station on the Northeast Corridor Line. Woodbridge station is located on Pearl Street at the intersection with Brook Street, where stairs to the single island platform that serves trains are located.
County Route 522 is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 21 miles (34 km) from Route 27 in South Brunswick to West Main Street in Freehold Borough.
The Freehold and Jamesburg Agricultural Railroad was a short-line railroad in New Jersey. The railroad traversed through the communities of Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Manalapan Township, Englishtown Borough, Monroe Township, and Jamesburg Borough, en route to Monmouth Junction in South Brunswick Township.
Bowie State station is a regional rail station on the Northeast Corridor, located adjacent to the campus of Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland. It is served by MARC Penn Line commuter rail trains. The station is located on a three-track section of the Northeast Corridor, with two side platforms next to the outer tracks.
The Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
The Robbinsville Industrial Track is a short freight line that runs between Bordentown, New Jersey to the Yardville section of Hamilton Township, New Jersey. The line was originally part of the Camden and Amboy Railroad and later served as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central Transportation and then Conrail. It is currently operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO).
Cranbury Station is an unincorporated community located within Cranbury Township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The area immediately around the site of the former railroad station along the Camden and Amboy Railroad contains agricultural businesses and small homes. Hightstown-Cranbury Station Road is the main road through the settlement paralleling the railroad and Station Road as a major road heading east and west through the area. Modern warehouses line Station Road and the nearby New Jersey Turnpike west of the station while large housing developments are located east of here in Monroe Township.
The Freehold Secondary is an active rail line in New Jersey, the tracks of which are owned by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) and operated by the Delaware and Raritan River Railroad (DRR), a subsidiary of Chesapeake and Delaware, LLC. The active portion operates between Jamesburg and Lakewood, New Jersey. The section between Freehold and the junction with the Southern Secondary in Farmingdale had been dormant since 1999; DRR began track rehabilitation on this section on January 16, 2023. On October 13, 2023, the 5–mile Farmingdale–Freehold segment was officially reactivated. In total, 25,000+ feet of rail, 12,500 ties and six level crossings were replaced in a project that concluded nine months ahead of schedule and under budget. This project makes the operation more efficient, as one train can now serve on-line customers between Browns Yard in Old Bridge, where the train originates, to the line's largest and southernmost customer in Lakewood. DRR intends to grow business with future plans to reactivate dormant track south of Lakewood.
Lanham station was a regional rail station on the Northeast Corridor, located just outside the Capital Beltway off Route 450 in Lanham, Maryland. It was served by the predecessor of today's MARC Penn Line, until August 1982.
Woodbury is a defunct commuter railroad station in the city of Woodbury, Gloucester County, New Jersey. Located at the junction of Station Road and Cooper Street, the station served multiple lines of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and the Pennsylvania Railroad. Trains out of Woodbury serviced lines to Salem, Millville, Penns Grove/Carneys Point and Cape May. Woodbury station consisted of two side platforms and a 72-by-20-foot brick station depot.
Glassboro is an inactive train station in Glassboro, New Jersey which served passengers from 1863–1971. Its station house was restored c. 2015. It is located at the edge of the Rowan University campus. Listed as the West Jersey Rail Road Glassboro Depot, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 14, 2020, for its significance in architecture and transportation.
Westville is a defunct commuter railroad station in the borough of Westville, Gloucester County, New Jersey. The station served trains on the former Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line branch between Millville and Camden. Westville station contained two side platforms located next to U.S. Route 130 and Station Avenue. The next station to the north was Brooklawn, while South Westville served as the next station to the south.